METHOD FOR VEHICLE-TO-VEHICLE COMMUNICATION

Abstract

 The present invention concerns a method of a first vehicle for vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V communication, comprising: receiving, from a remote transmitter, a first message comprising first information on a hazard related to a first geolocation indicated in the first message; determining second information on a second vehicle; and comparing the first information and the second information and selectively transmitting a forwarded message based on the content of the first message to the second vehicle in accordance with the comparison of the first and the second information.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for selectively forwarding messages between vehicles, particularly for selectively forwarding messages related to a hazard associated with an identified area. The invention further relates to a vehicle configured for performing such method, particularly to a vehicle comprising a control unit configured for performing such method and a computer program for enabling a computer to perform such method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Automotive applications and mobile communications become more and more entangled, particularly due to the increasing interest in autonomous driving that requires larger amounts of data when compared to conventional driving. These data amounts are provided partially by the vehicle itself (i.e., by sensors thereof) and partially via an air interface. Via the air interface either a vehicle to vehicle, V2V, communication or a vehicle to everything, V2X, communication is carried out, the latter including communication with road side units, RSUs.

[0003] Where V2X communication is carried out via a cellular mobile network, such as e.g., a LTE or 5G communication network, it is referred to as cellular-V2X, C-V2X. The V2V and C-V2X communications can be carried out in a LTE or 5G network with sidelink carries at the PHY layer (PC5 sidelink) or based on WLAN communication according to IEEE 802.11 p standard.

[0004] One of the drawbacks of the IEEE 802.11p is that it is a Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) by its nature limited to short ranges. However, this standard is popular and it would be advantageous to apply measures that could increase coverage of messages provided using this communication system while not causing large data overhead.

[0005] With an increasing amount of modern vehicles using V2V and V2X communication, the number of users of these communication protocols is on the rise. Due to the user numbers and increasingly complex applications, the amount of transmitted data will rise continuously. However, due to limited bandwidth and data rate the increase in data might come along with a deterioration of channel quality and thus quality of service, QoS, of communication links.

[0006] However, particularly with respect to autonomous driving the QoS of the radio links might be directly related to congestion of communication links and as a result related to the safety of the automated processes and hence the driver's safety. Hence, limiting data throughput via the radio link is one of the challenges of V2V and V2X.

[0007] Further, in modern communication techniques, broadcasting is declining while unicast is becoming more popular with techniques such as beamforming. This also poses challenges to transmission optimization.

[0008] It is also clear that messages must be sent within communication networks while applying transmission optimization measures.

[0009] However, while on one hand there is an interest to utilize V2V communication to supplement V2X communication in that vehicles might share information on network coverage etc., in order to facilitate QoS prediction and/or to schedule application critical data upload or download, on the other hand the benefit of such V2V sidelink communication is deteriorated, if the messaging related to such V2V communication would congest the radio channel itself.

[0010] It would also be beneficial to inform vehicles about emergencies and dangerous spots/areas. Such systems are known in the art where for example modern vehicle navigation systems communicate with an information center and display information on congested areas or accidents in the navigation system's graphical user interface. However, such systems do not use communication channels effectively and their response times are usually slow as they do not operate locally but via a central system.

[0011] It is thus an object of the present invention to overcome or reduce at least some of the drawbacks of the prior art and to provide a method for vehicle-to-vehicle communication that is suitable for reducing traffic on radio links that are utilized for V2X and V2V communication and at the same time provide reliable information on emergencies or hazards.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] According to a first aspect of the invention, a method for vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V communication is provided that enables a vehicle to selectively forward (or otherwise disseminate, circulate or propagate) a received message concerning a hazard. The following steps are performed by a control unit of the vehicle as well as by a communication module of the vehicle, the latter preferably under control of the control unit.

[0013] Particularly, the method of the invention is applicable to a first vehicle for vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V communication, wherein the method comprises: receiving, from a remote transmitter, a first message comprising first information on a hazard related to a first geolocation indicated in the first message; determining second information on a second vehicle; and comparing the first information and the second information and selectively transmitting a forwarded message based on the content of the first message to the second vehicle in accordance with the comparison of the first and the second information.

[0014] Information about dangerous or hazardous spots/areas is currently restricted to the communication range (broadcast) of the used technology, which is currently IEEE 802.11p. In addition to this range limitation, the broadcast of the information also leads to channel overload. The selective transmission of the method of the present disclosure allows to limit communication channel use when providing information on hazards over increases coverage areas.

[0015] In an embodiment, the remote transmitter may be embedded in a vehicle such as a police or ambulance vehicle or be a portable, preferably battery powered, transmitter such that it may be set up in any location when needed. Therefore there may exist cases where the hazard moves i.e. changes its geolocation e.g. a moving ambulance transmitting a hazard signal.

[0016] Preferably, the forwarded message is based on the content of the first message. This means that in a simplest embodiment, the forwarded message is the same as the first message and in other words is a forwarded message. In other embodiments the forwarded message may comprise a subset of the content of the first message (e.g. filtered content) or alternatively the forwarded message may comprise more information than provided by the first message (e.g. identification of the forwarding vehicle or information that the forwarding vehicle is a forwarder and not the transmitter identifying the origin of the hazard).

[0017] In one embodiment, the first message may be forwarded when a forwarding level criterion has been met. The forwarding level criterion may be initially set in the first message. Its purpose is to limit the area of forwarding.

[0018] The forwarding level criterion defines how many times a first message may be forwarded in a given forwarding chain, for example Level 1 means that a first vehicle may forward the first message to a second vehicle, while Level 2 means that the second vehicle may forward the already forwarded first message to a third vehicle. Level 3 would correspondingly extend Level 2 and so on. When processing the first message, the forwarding vehicle may identify a current forwarding level. This feature also allows to limit redundant transmissions and communication channel congestion is thereby limited.

[0019] Preferably, the geolocation refers to the latitude and longitude coordinates of a particular spatial location. Advantageously, the comparison of the first and the second information refers to comparison of geolocations. However, the comparison may also relate to a type of second vehicle and a type of hazard. Most general, the comparison between the information on the second vehicle and the information on the hazard comprised in the first message is carried out to determine, whether the information on the hazard is of any interest for the second vehicle. The second information may thus also relate to a type or the second vehicle, a direction of travel of the second vehicle, a mission class of the second vehicle (e.g., police car, ambulance car, firefighter truck), or the like.

[0020] The second information on the second vehicle are preferably determined by the first vehicle based on at least sensor value obtained by the first vehicle. Preferably, the first vehicle may determine a geolocation, distance and/or traveling direction of the second vehicle using on-board sensors, e.g., in combination with a GPS reading or the like. Exemplarily, the first information might specify a hazard at a geolocation behind the first vehicle (in traveling direction) and the first vehicle might detect a second vehicle in front of it, wherein the second vehicle is travelling away from the first vehicle, i.e., also from the hazard geolocation. Hence, the first vehicle decides based on the comparison of the first and second information to not transmit the forwarded message to the second vehicle.

[0021] Alternatively or additionally, the second information may be comprised in a second message received from the second vehicle. Exemplarily, the second message may be a message occasionally or periodically received by the first vehicle from surrounding other vehicles via a V2V communication. Exemplarily, the second message may be a Coorperative Awareness Message, CAM, or might be based on such type of message. CAM messages usually comprise an identifier, a location and a current traveling direction of a vehicle and these information might be used as second information in the method of the present disclosure.

[0022] Advantageously, the second information relates to a current geolocation of the second vehicle (a second geolocation), the method further comprising the steps of: comparing the current geolocation with a broadcast radius of the remote transmitter; and transmitting the forwarded message if the current geolocation is outside the broadcast radius. The broadcast radius may also be considered a predetermined distance to the remote transmitter.

[0023] In one embodiment, the second geolocation is above a predetermined distance to the first geolocation. This feature is aimed at filtering transmissions of the forwarded message in case the second vehicle may receive the first message by itself i.e. is within a range in which the first message may be received. This reception (or a broadcast) range of the first message may be inferred from the technology used and/or signal parameters such as quality, strength. Alternatively, the reception range may be explicitly given by the first message or initial signal parameters such as quality, strength may be given for the receiver to estimate the reception range based on a comparison of the initial signal parameters with the received signal parameters.

[0024] In other words, the broadcast radius is determined based on: information transmitted by the remote transmitter in the first message, a predetermined information, and/or a signal strength of the first message determined by the first vehicle.

[0025] For example, if the remote transmitter transmits the first message within a radius of 1000m, the first vehicle is 800m away from the remote transmitter and detects the second vehicle at a distance 1600m from the transmitter, the first vehicle is aware that the first message cannot be received by the second vehicle (as 1600m is significantly above the 1000m) and may act on this finding by transmitting the forwarded message to the second vehicle.

[0026] In an embodiment, when the second geolocation is above a predetermined distance to the first geolocation there may be present another condition called for example a maximum distance, to which the first message is allowed to be propagated e.g. 5 km. This allows to limit message dissemination radius and therefore avoid redundant or unnecessary transmissions.

[0027] Preferably, if the second geolocation is below a predetermined distance (or otherwise within the broadcast radius) to the first geolocation the method is refraining from the selective transmission of the forwarded message. Thereby redundant transmissions are avoided and communication channel congestion is limited.

[0028] In another example, the first message may comprise a version number to allow recipients determine whether a version has changed, which may indicate an update of the first message. This facilitates avoiding redundancy of messages on a radio communication channel and thus useless channel load by resending already shared information. The first vehicle may choose to refrain from transmitting a forwarded message to the second vehicle, e.g., from forwarding the first message to the second vehicle, when a prior version of the first message has been forwarded to the second vehicle and the version number of the first message has not changed.

[0029] Preferably, the first information further comprises an identification of time associated with the hazard. Such associated time may be a time of transmission of the first information when the hazard was still present. This helps receivers to identify whether the received messages are current i.e. how much time has elapsed from message transmission to its reception. Further, the time parameter may also identify estimated removal time of a cause of the hazard.

[0030] In an embodiment, a vehicle may refrain from propagating the first message when a predefined threshold time has elapsed from the reception of the first message. As an example, a vehicle has received the first message, drives outside of the coverage range of the radio transmitter, from which the first message originates and stops for 10 minutes. After that the vehicle continues driving and encounters a second vehicle. Because, more than 10 minutes have passed (a time threshold for propagation, which may be different), the vehicle may refrain from propagating the first message to the second vehicle.

[0031] In other words, the method further comprises the steps of: comparing a current time with the identified time and transmitting the forwarded message if a difference between the current time and the identified time is less than a certain threshold.

[0032] Preferably, the first information further comprises an identification of a type of the hazard. Such information may be useful for occupants of vehicles receiving this information. The identification may be for example displayed by a navigation system of a vehicle. Such type of the hazard may be explicitly given by providing a description or may be given as a reference identifier to a look-up table of different types of hazards.

[0033] In some cases, based on the type of the hazard and the second information (e.g. vehicle type) it may be determined whether the hazard affects the second vehicle (i.e. strong winds affecting vehicles with trailers or busses). If it does, the forwarded message may be transmitted to the second vehicle, while if it does not, the transmission may be omitted. Thereby redundant or unnecessary transmissions are avoided and communication channel congestion is limited.

[0034] In an exemplary embodiment the first information designates a relevant area of the hazard. This feature is useful, as a definition by a geolocation may not be sufficient in case of hazards of a larger scale, for example a construction site on a lane of a road, which closes the lane over a distance of 1 km.

[0035] In such a case the relevant area may be defined, for example in a form of a polygon, vertices of which have different geolocations.

[0036] In another embodiment, the aforementioned relevant area is defined by identifying a radius from the first geolocation, which provides a simple way of defining the area.

[0037] Other options of defining the relevant area are such that the relevant area identifies a lane of a road or the relevant area (or the first message in general) identifies a direction of movement (e.g. a traffic movement direction in the area of the hazard), which is affected by the hazard. In some cases one of multiple lanes may be affected in a given direction while in other cases all lanes of a given direction (i.e. traffic movement direction at the hazard area) may be affected by a hazard. This first information is useful for the comparison with the second information regarding the second vehicle. Above that such first information is useful for finding an appropriate response to the hazard by the first and/or second vehicle. Exemplarily, based on the defined lane/direction, the first vehicle may determine that the second vehicle does not travel on such lane/in such direction and hence does not need to receive the forwarded message. Further, the first vehicle may use the defined lane/direction when considering an alternative route for avoiding the hazard, e.g., if it is possible to circumvent that lane or not.

[0038] Preferably, the first message identifies a type of road to which the hazard relates. This feature addresses for example roads running next to each other. In such a case one road may be designated to avoid confusion. This first information is useful for the comparison with the second information regarding the second vehicle. Above that such first information is useful for finding an appropriate response to the hazard by the first and/or second vehicle. Exemplarily, based on the type of the road, the first vehicle may determine that the second vehicle does not travel on such type of road and thus does not need to receive the forwarded message. Further, the first vehicle may use the defined road when considering an alternative route for avoiding the hazard, e.g., if there is an alternative for that type of road or not.

[0039] In another embodiment of the present invention, the first message comprises an identifier of a road to which the hazard relates. This may allow to address vertically arranged roads i.e. one over another. In such a case one of the roads may be designated while the other road remains unaffected by the hazard. Further, such identifier may simplify identifying the road in a data set stored in a navigation system of the first or second vehicle. Above that, such identifier may be used in the comparison as well as for finding an appropriate response.

[0040] In an embodiment, the second message is transmitted only if the second vehicle is moving towards the first geolocation.

[0041] In other words, the method further comprises the steps of: comparing an expected geolocation of the second vehicle with the first geolocation; and transmitting the forwarded message if the expected geolocation is within a predefined radius around the first geolocation.

[0042] Exemplarily, a determination whether the second vehicle is moving towards the first geolocation is made based on a route information received from the second vehicle, e.g., based on route information from a navigation system of the second vehicle comprising information on a start and an end point of a route and on a plurality of manoeuvres to be performed by the second vehicle for traveling from the start to the end point along a predetermined grid of lineaments representing roads or parts of roads on a map.

[0043] Alternatively, the second message comprises information on the expected geolocation, i.e., the determination of the future whereabouts is performed and transmitted by the second vehicle. The expected geolocations may be assigned a future timestamp and may be transmitted in a standardized form by the second vehicle, e.g., as a part of a CAM message. Also preferred, the second vehicle transmits information on the current geolocation and a current direction of the second vehicle such that the first vehicle can determine the expected geolocation(s) of the second vehicle itself.

[0044] These options allow refraining from the selective transmission of the second message in case the second vehicle will not arrive at (or in predefined proximity to) the geolocation of the relevant hazard. Thereby redundant or unnecessary transmissions are further avoided and communication channel congestion is limited.

[0045] It will be evident to a person skilled in the art that the various embodiments of the invention mentioned in this application can be combined with one another with advantage, unless otherwise stated in the individual case.

[0046] A further aspect of the present invention relates to a vehicle, comprising a communication module configured to communicate with another vehicle and with a remote transmitter; and a control unit configured to: receive, from the remote transmitter, a first message comprising first information on a hazard related to a first geolocation indicated in the first message; determine second information on a second vehicle and compare the first information and the second information and selectively transmit a forwarded message based on the content of the first message to the second vehicle in accordance with the comparison of the first and the second information. Preferred embodiments of the vehicle, e.g., with respect to the determination of the second information on the second vehicle, correspond to the preferred embodiments as described for above method.

[0047] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a control unit of a vehicle, cause the control unit to carry out a method of a first vehicle for V2V communication as set forth above and/or to carry out a method of a second vehicle for V2V communication as set forth above.

[0048] Additionally, an object of the present disclosure is a computer readable medium storing computer-executable instructions performing all the steps of the computer-implemented method according the method disclosed herein when executed on a computer.

[0049] A computer-readable (storage) medium, such as referred to herein, typically may be non-transitory and/or comprise a non-transitory device. In this context, a non-transitory storage medium may include a device that may be tangible, meaning that the device has a concrete physical form, although the device may change its physical state. Thus, for example, non-transitory refers to a device remaining tangible despite a change in state.

[0050] An example of a non-transitory medium is a non-volatile memory, for example a flash memory while an example of a volatile memory is RAM.

[0051] Further aspects of the present invention could be learned from the dependent claims or the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052] These and other objects of the invention presented herein, are accomplished by providing an automatic vehicle and method for operating the same. Further details and features of the present invention, its nature and various advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments shown in a drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a vehicle for performing the method of the invention;

Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a smart environment for performing the method of the invention comprising vehicles as of Fig. 1, base stations of a mobile communication network and road side units, RSUs;

Fig. 3 illustrates an application case of the methods of the invention; and

Figs. 4A-C depict different definitions of hazards.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0053] Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments which are illustrated in the drawings. Effects and features of the exemplary embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Therein, like reference numerals denote like elements, and redundant descriptions are omitted. The present invention, however, may be embodied in various different forms, and should not be construed as being limited to only the illustrated embodiments herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided solely as examples for fully conveying the aspects and features of the present invention to those skilled in the art.

[0054] Accordingly, processes, elements, and techniques that are not considered necessary to those having ordinary skill in the art for a complete understanding of the aspects and features of the present invention may not be described. At the same time, within the drawings, the relative sizes of elements, layers, and regions may be exaggerated for clarity.

[0055] As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Further, the use of "may" when describing embodiments of the present invention refers to "one or more embodiments of the present invention." Further, in the following description of embodiments of the present invention, the terms of a singular form may include plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0056] It will be understood that although the terms "first" and "second" are used to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, a first element may be named a second element and, similarly, a second element may be named a first element, without departing from the scope of the present invention. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items and expressions such as "at least one of' when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements.

[0057] As used herein, term as "substantially", and "about" are used as terms of approximation and not as terms of degree, and are intended to account for the inherent deviations in measured or calculated values that would be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art. However, if the term "substantially" is used in combination with a feature expressed using a numeric value, the term "substantially" denotes a range of +/- 5% of the value centered on the value.

[0058] Figure 1 schematically illustrates an exemplary vehicle 10, particularly a vehicle with a combustion, electric or hybrid motor. The vehicle 10 may be an automatic or a conventional vehicle as long as it supports V2V communication.

[0059] An automatic vehicle preferably comprises a multiple primary sensors, particularly a first sensor 11, a second sensor 12, and a third sensor 13. The primary sensors 11, 12, 13 are configured for detecting environmental information of the vehicle and comprise e.g., a camera for detecting images of a road upfront the vehicle 10, distance sensors, such as e.g., ultrasound-based sensors or LIDAR-based sensors, etc. The primary sensors 11, 12, 13 transmit the detected signals to a control unit 40 of the vehicle 10.

[0060] The vehicle 10 further comprises a plurality of secondary sensors, particularly a fourth sensor 51, a fifth sensor 52, and a sixth sensor 53. The secondary sensors 51, 52, 53 are configured for detecting information regarding the vehicle 10 itself, particularly data regarding an actual position and motion state of the vehicle 10. The secondary sensors 51, 52, 53 thus preferably comprise velocity sensors, acceleration sensors, tilt sensors, or the like. The secondary signals transmit the detected signals to the control unit 40 of the vehicle 10.

[0061] The vehicle 10 further comprises a communication module 20 with a memory and one or more transponders 22. The transponders 22 might be configured as radio, WLAN, GPS and/or Bluetooth transponder or the like. The transponder 22 communicates with an internal memory 21 of the communication module, preferably via a suitable data bus. The communication module 20 is configured to perform V2V and (C-)V2X communication. The communication module 20 also communicates with the control unit 40. The communication module 20 is adapted for communicating messages according to the WLAN p communication system (IEEE 802.11p) and/ or according to a LTE-V mode 4 communication system.

[0062] The vehicle 10 further comprises a driving system 30 that is configured for performing fully or partially autonomous driving of the vehicle 10, particularly for longitudinal and lateral control thereof. The driving system 30 comprises a navigation module 32 that is configured to determine a navigation route between a starting point and an end point input by a user. The driving system further comprises an internal memory 31, e.g., for map material, that communicates with the navigation module 32, e.g., via a suitable data bus. At least part of the secondary sensors 51, 52, 53 transmit their signals directly to the driving system 30, particularly including the actual position and movement information of the vehicle 10.

[0063] The vehicle further comprises a control unit 40 that is configured for performing the method of the invention as set forth in detail below. For performing this task and others the control unit 40 comprises an internal memory 41 and a CPU 42 that communicate with each other via a suitable data bus. Above that the control unit communicates with at least the primary sensors 11, 12, 13, the secondary sensors 51, 52, 53, the communication module 20 und the driving system 30, e.g., via one or more CAN, SPI, or other suitable connections.

[0064] Figure 2 schematically illustrates a smart environment for performing the method of the invention comprising vehicles as of Figure 1, base stations 62 of a mobile communication network and a server 70 and road side units, RSUs, 90 operated by a vehicle manufacturer.

[0065] In the system as shown in Figure 2 communication, i.e. transmission, reception or both, takes place among vehicles 10 directly and/or between vehicles 10 and a network component, particularly a base station 62, a road side unit 90, and/or an application or back end server 70. The communication thus either utilizes a mobile communication system or vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V, communication. Therein, the base stations 62 are usually operated by a network operator of a mobile communication network while the road side units 90 might be operated by a vehicle manufacturer or a service partner thereof. Further, the road side units 90 communicate with the server 70 that can also communicate directly with vehicles 10.

[0066] The mobile communication system used for the V2V and/or the V2X communication may, for example, correspond to one of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)-standardized mobile communication networks, where the term mobile communication system is used synonymously to mobile communication network. The mobile or wireless communication system 400 may correspond to a mobile communication system of the 5th Generation (5G) and may use mm-wave technology. The mobile communication system may correspond to or comprise, for example, a Long-Term Evolution (LTE), an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), a Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) or a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), an evolved-UTRAN (e-UTRAN), a Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) or Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network, a GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), or mobile communication networks with different standards, for example, a Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access (WIMAX) network IEEE 802.16 or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) IEEE 802.11, generally an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Wideband-CDMA (WCDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, a Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA) network, etc.

[0067] Figure 3 illustrates an application case of a method according to the invention, particularly of a method for V2V communication according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0068] According to the illustrated embodiment, two critical areas Z1 and Z2 exist along a road network, wherein in each of the critical areas a hazardous situation may have occurred.

[0069] The hazardous situation particularly refers to an accident. Other causes may be a flooded road, a tree fallen on the road, road construction works, painting work related to road markings, an emergency vehicle moving in response to an emergency call (e.g. disobeying traffic rules which may result in hazardous situations).

[0070] In such cases a transmitter of a radio message may be set up in order to transmit a radio message comprising information on a hazard related to a first geolocation (identified according to a suitable system such as GPS (Global Positioning System) and/or GLONASS). However, such radio message may also be transmitted by a vehicle passing or even crossing the first geolocation or by a RSU located nearby the first geolocation. The word geolocation may refer to the latitude and the longitude coordinates of a particular spatial location.

[0071] Such transmitters may be embedded in vehicles such as police, ambulance, fire trucks or the like and be selectively activated. Alternatively, such a transmitter may be portable so that for example trained, uniformed services' staff may arrive at a location with such a transmitter and set it up in any location as it may be battery powered.

[0072] In the embodiment of Figure 3, vehicles V0, V1, V2, V3 and V4 are vehicles 10, 62 that are configured for V2X and/or for V2V communication. Particularly, each of the vehicles V0, V1, V2, V3 and V4 is a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0073] Further, the vehicles PL2, PL1 are trucks which are organized in a platoon and which are also configured for V2X communication. Also trucks PL2, PL1 might be configured as vehicle of the invention.

[0074] According to the illustrated embodiment, each of the vehicles V0, V1, V2 and V3 has driven through a critical area Z1 in which a hazardous situation has occurred. A center of such zone may be considered a geolocation where the hazard has occurred.

[0075] In Fig. 3 a message M1 comprising information on a hazard related to a first geolocation Z1 is receivable within an area 302. Correspondingly, a message M2 comprising information on a hazard related to a second geolocation Z2 is receivable within an area 301.

[0076] In one embodiment, the M1, M2 messages may indicate whether they come from a source transmitter (the origin of the message). When such messages are forwarded or otherwise propagated, this indication will not be present.

[0077] Therefore only vehicle V3 may receive the M1 message comprising information on a hazard related to a first geolocation Z1 while only vehicle V4 may receive the M2 message comprising information on a hazard related to a second geolocation Z2.

[0078] Both V3 and V4 receive awareness messages from V2, which provides awareness messages within range 303 but cannot receive messages comprising information on a hazard related to the first geolocation Z1 or messages comprising information on a hazard related to the second geolocation Z2 as it is not within the range 301 or 302.

[0079] In such a case, either V3 or V4 or both may determine whether it is beneficial to inform the vehicle V2 about the hazard related to the first geolocation Z1 and/or the hazard related to the second geolocation Z2.

[0080] The fact of being beneficial depends on different conditions as explained herein. It is not advantageous to for example forward all emergency/hazard related messages which a given vehicle receives as it would create data chaos and a lot of redundant data transmissions, especially in heavy traffic areas and even more so in case of unicasting-based transmission systems.

[0081] The V3 and V4 are preferably aware of a geolocation of V2 (as provided by the V2) and are aware or may otherwise infer that V2 cannot receive the M1 and M2 messages.

[0082] In other words, the geolocation of V2 is above a predetermined distance threshold to the first geolocation where a hazard has occurred.

[0083] Such threshold may be predefined as a distance. For example, a vehicle may be aware that messages such as M1 are transmitted with a radius of 500m and when it determines (e.g. V3) that a geolocation of for example V2 is beyond that threshold e.g. 800m, V3 may consider informing V2 about M1.

[0084] Otherwise (not shown in Fig. 3), if the second geolocation (e.g. V2) is below a predetermined distance to the first geolocation (e.g. center of Z1) the V3 may refrain from the selective transmission of the M1 to V2. This is because transmitting M1 would be redundant as the V2 may receive it by itself or may have already received it.

[0085] Other factors influencing a decision whether to transmit messages such as M1 or M2 to another vehicle by a first vehicle may comprise a determination whether the another vehicle is moving towards the first geolocation i.e. geolocation of a hazard zone. The determination whether the another vehicle is moving towards the first geolocation is preferably made based on a route information received from the another vehicle.

[0086] In case of Figure 3, the vehicle V2 may be notified by the vehicle V4 about the message M2 while vehicle V2 will not be notified by V3 about the M1 message because the vehicle V2 has passed the hazard zone Z1 and moves away from it. Thereby, the number of data transmissions is advantageously reduced.

[0087] The M1, M2 messages may comprise an identification of time of their transmission. This allows the receivers to determine whether they are in possession of current messages (for example the receivers may be aware of a frequency of transmission of such messages). Messages that are not current may be omitted when considering their propagation.

[0088] The M1, M2 messages may comprise an identification of a type of the hazard. Such hazard type may be explicitly given by providing a description or may be given as a reference identifier to a look-up table of different types of hazards.

[0089] According to the illustration of Figure 3, also vehicles PL1 and PL2 may receive propagated versions of the messages M1, M2 from vehicles such as V1 and, based on a determination carried out at least by platoon leader PL1 that an intended route of the platoon will cross a critical area Z1, Z2, will consider the M1, M2 message. Further, vehicle PL1 may adapt the platooning application parameters utilized in the platoon at least by vehicle PL2, e.g., by increasing the distance or speed to be kept by vehicle PL2 with respect to vehicle PL1 in order to account for an incoming hazard.

[0090] Further, the vehicles PL1 and PL2, particularly platoon leader PL2, will prompt further vehicles V2, V3 coming into a transmission range of vehicles PL1 and PL2 about M1, M2 in case it considers that to be beneficial as described above.

[0091] Figs. 4A-C depict different definitions of hazards. Depending on particular physical conditions, hazards may affect different geospatial areas, which may be called relevant area(s) of the hazard.

[0092] In an example of Fig. 4A such a relevant area is defined as a radius from the first geolocation i.e. a center 401 of a zone 402, a particular focus point 401 of the hazard. On another occasion the relevant area identifies a direction of movement 403. To this end a hazard may be found to be associated only with a particular section of a road so that it affects only vehicles moving from a first direction towards a second direction (e.g. driving north) and the hazard does not apply when moving from the second direction towards the first direction (e.g. driving south on the same road).

[0093] In an example of Fig. 4B the relevant area identifies a lane of a road. In this example a road has two lanes in one direction while only the right lane is affected by a hazard 402.

[0094] In case of Fig. 4C a directional information is combined with a plurality of lanes as the hazard 402 affects both lanes.

[0095] For example a radio message comprising information on a hazard may comprise:

• Geolocation of the hazard 401;
• Radius of the affected area 402;
• Driving direction affected 403;
• Lanes affected e.g. all lanes 404 or selected lanes from a plurality of lanes.

[0096] In another example, the relevant area identifies a type of road to which the hazard relates. This option addresses for example roads running next to each other, one of which is designated to avoid confusion. Such a case may allow excluding a secondary road from being affected by the hazard when the hazardous incident is present on a highway running nearby or next to the secondary road.

[0097] Optionally, the relevant area comprises an identifier of a road to which the hazard relates. This allows to address vertically arranged roads having a common geolocation. In such cases roads may be differentiated by providing an identifier of a road. Also, such an identifier may simplify the processing of the received information in the navigation system of the first or second vehicle.

[0098] The electronic or electric devices and/or any other relevant devices or components according to embodiments of the present invention described herein, except those described explicitly as hardware, may be implemented utilizing any suitable hardware, firmware (e.g. an application-specific integrated circuit), software, or a combination of software, firmware, and hardware. For example, the various components of these devices may be formed on one integrated circuit (IC) chip or on separate IC chips.

[0099] Further, the various components of these devices may be implemented on a flexible printed circuit film, a tape carrier package (TCP), a printed circuit board (PCB), or formed on one substrate. The electrical connections or interconnections described herein may be realized by wires or conducting elements, e.g. on a PCB or another kind of circuit carrier. The conducting elements may comprise metallization, e.g. surface metallizations and/or pins, and/or may comprise conductive polymers or ceramics. Further electrical energy might be transmitted via wireless connections, e.g. using electromagnetic radiation and/or light.

[0100] Further, the various components of these devices may be a process or thread, running on one or more processors, in one or more computing devices, executing computer program instructions and interacting with other system components for performing the various functionalities described herein. The computer program instructions are stored in a memory which may be implemented in a computing device using a standard memory device, such as, for example, a random access memory (RAM). The computer program instructions may also be stored in other non-transitory computer readable media such as, for example, a CD-ROM, flash drive, or the like.

[0101] A person of skill in the art should recognize that the functionality of various computing devices may be combined or integrated into a single computing device, or the functionality of a particular computing device may be distributed across one or more other computing devices without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and/or the present specification, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense, unless expressly defined so.

Reference signs

[0102] 

10

vehicle

11

first sensor

12

second sensor

13

third sensor

20

communication module

21

memory

22

transceiver

30

driving system

31

memory

32

CPU

40

control unit

41

memory

42

CPU

51

fourth sensor

52

fifth sensor

53

sixth sensor

61

GPS satellite

62

base station

63

other vehicle

70

backend server

90

road side unit

301

area within which M2 is receivable

302

area within which M1 is receivable

303

area of V2 awareness messages

401

Geolocation of a hazard402 Radius of an affected area

403

Driving direction affected

404

Lanes affected

M1, M2

messages related to hazards

V0, V1, V2, V3, V4

passenger vehicles

PL1, PL2

platoon vehicles

Claims

1. A method of a first vehicle (10) for vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V communication, comprising:

receiving, from a remote transmitter, a first message comprising first information on a hazard related to a first geolocation indicated in the first message;

determining second information on a second vehicle; and

comparing the first information and the second information and selectively transmitting a forwarded message based on the content of the first message to the second vehicle in accordance with the comparison of the first and the second information.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the second information on the second vehicle are

- determined based on at least sensor value obtained by the first vehicle, or

- comprises in a second message received from the second vehicle.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second information relates to a current geolocation of the second vehicle, the method further comprising the steps of:

comparing the current geolocation with a broadcast radius of the remote transmitter; and

transmitting the forwarded message if the current geolocation is outside the broadcast radius.

4. Method according to claim 3, wherein the broadcast radius is determined based on:

- information transmitted by the remote transmitter in the first message;

- a predetermined information; or

- a signal strength of the first message determined by the first vehicle.

5. Method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein if the current geolocation is within the broadcast radius, refraining from the selective transmission of the forwarded message.

6. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first information further comprises an identification of time associated with the hazard, and the method further comprises the steps of:

comparing a current time with the identified time; and

transmitting the forwarded message if a difference between the current time and the identified time is less than a certain threshold.

7. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first information further comprises an identification of a type of the hazard, and the method further comprises the steps of:

comparing a type of hazard with the second information; and

transmitting the forwarded message if the type of hazard affects the second vehicle.

8. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first message designates a relevant area of the hazard.

9. Method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the relevant area is defined as a radius from the first geolocation.

10. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first information identifies a direction of movement.

11. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first information identifies a type, an identifier and/or a lane of a road to which the hazard relates.

12. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising the steps of:

comparing an expected geolocation of the second vehicle with the first geolocation; and

transmitting the forwarded message if the expected geolocation is within a predefined radius around the first geolocation.

13. Method according to claim 12, wherein the second message comprises at least one of:

- information on the expected geolocation,

- information on the current geolocation and a current direction, and

- route information.

14. A vehicle (10), comprising
a communication module (20) configured to communicate with another vehicle and with a remote transmitter; and
a control unit configured to:

receive, from the remote transmitter, a first message comprising first information on a hazard related to a first geolocation indicated in the first message;

determining second information on a second vehicle;

compare the first information and the second information and selectively transmit a forwarded message based on the content of the first message to the second vehicle in accordance with the comparison of the first and the second information.

15. A computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a control unit of a vehicle, cause the control unit to carry out the method of claim 1.

Drawing